“A Tale of an American Political Prisoner”

Part 10.6: The Federal Courthouse; Washington, DC

–The “OathKeeper 1” Trial: The Government’s Case In Chief Part 3–

by: Jessica Watkins (X: @J6ssicaWatkins)

A True Story; 100% verifiable with Courtroom Transcripts, Evidentiary Exhibits, Court Documents and Testimony.

The story of January 6th was getting derailed. The Government had wasted a LOT of time talking about nothing. When they decided to “ramp things up” they only got more outlandish. They spent probably 2 days talking about everyone’s travel plans. They made this fancy slideshow video of everyone from all over the country converging on Washington, DC. The obvious ploy was to make it seem like a veritable army was coming to attack the Capitol; that it was all coordinated. But at the end of the day, of course we were coming. We had a Security Detail to perform, at a specific time, and at a specific place. That’s how rallies work. People show up in the same place. It was so hyped up, yet so stupid. Furthermore, people needed to book hotel rooms. Take time off work. Buy trail mix for the road trip. It was tedious to go through it all, but the Government made a big deal about it. I guess they thought it looked scary. I think the Jury was as bored as I was. Then they showed the hotel. They made this fancy video of everyone checking into their rooms, wheeling carts full of luggage. They used yellow outlines to highlight what they believed were cases holding firearms. Suspiciously, the video of me didn’t have a yellow outline on it. But they put my image beside those who did. The FBI had interviewed folks, and they KNEW we didn’t have firearms, but they wanted to lie by omission, to paint the picture that I had. It was a dirty trick. They came up with this fancy presentation that showed all the hotel rooms people were in. Ooooooh, scary! Hotel rooms! Terrifying, bruh! By the end of it all, there was no plan. No communication. No plot. No Conspiracy. Nothing that resembled anything malicious or illegal.

Now, I won’t bulls*** you. Did people have guns in their hotel rooms? Yeah, I believe they did. I never saw any, but the Prosecution laid out a convincing argument that there were guns in hotel rooms. I think the Government showed that pretty definitively. But in Virginia, that’s completely legal. That’s not a CRIME! We weren’t even CHARGED with gun crimes. But do you know who didn’t have any weapons? Me, Donovan or the Parkers. We didn’t need them. The FBI and DoJ knew that, but they wanted to pretend we did anyway. Once the Government was *finally* done showing the hotel situation, they decided to kick things up a notch. There was this video of OathKeepers shooting at the gun range, and then video of the OathKeepers (including me and Montana) in Louisville, when BLM swarmed us in the hotel parking lot. The entire video was made with this catchy Heavy Metal rock song. The Government showed this video (no joke) like 15-20 times during the course of our trial. Now it seemed like they wanted the Jury to believe that we came to Washington, DC to shoot Black Lives Matter people. I remind you that like 4-5 people on my Jury WERE Black Lives Matter people. So the attempt was as transparent as glass. Then they put an FBI witness on the stand and asked her why the OathKeepers had firearms. She said something like “…their plan was to occupy Washington, DC by force…” Um. Wat? (:/) When did THAT happen? I thought you said we were there to “Obstruct the Peaceful Transfer of Power”, not to “Occupy Washington”. With what? 40 people? I think that we would need more than that to occupy the most heavily protected city in America. The FBI witnesses couldn’t even get their own story straight. It was pathetic. They showed the Heavy Metal video again.

The Government wasn’t done. Prepare yourself for MORE TESTIMONY, this time from an OathKeeper who was AT THE CAPITOL on January 6th. HIS testimony would end up becoming an alibi. His was the first rifle they showed in the Courtroom. There would be many many more. The FBI agent dramatically withdrew his rifle from a sealed “EVIDENCE” box and paraded it through the Courtroom; even pointing it at the Jury – who recoiled in horror. Nobody likes having a gun pointed at them. The Prosecutor asked about the QRF – the Quick Reaction Force. Even the Government’s OWN WITNESS confirmed that “…the QRF is a normal function at every event the OathKeepers attend. The discussions for the QRF for January 6th were not out of the ordinary…” It was quickly becoming clear that the QRF and guns had nothing to do with January 6th at all. Frankly, I think even our Jury was looking at all of this and wondering how it was relevant. They played the Heavy Metal video again. Then they brought out more guns. Then they played the Heavy Metal video again. The Prosecutor kept looking at the Jury with this “Are ya scared yet?” look. They were trying their damnedest to make us frightening. After a few rounds of rifles and Heavy Metal, the Prosecution jump cut DIRECTLY to January 6th itself – skipping over our Protective Detail on January 5th entirely. The portrayal of events skipped so much, that it was disjointed. But they needed the scare tactics. The evidence was too weak to support a Guilty verdict otherwise. So. They showed the Heavy Metal video again.

By the time they reached January 6 itself, the narrative had changed repeatedly. There was clearly no plan or plot of any kind. Most of the Communications were of Stewart giving generic speeches; like questioning the validity of the 2020 Election. They showed a detailed (with receipts) travel itinerary, where Stewart had bought flashlights, scopes and things (not guns). They showed where Tom Caldwell had taken pictures of various areas in DC (nowhere near the Capitol Building). They showed text messages, where Tom talked about a boat at one point, and talk about crossing the Potomac. They showed this entire convoluted, confusing clump of nonsense. Then suddenly they jumped straight to January 6th. Even I had a hard time keeping track of it, and I was THERE. At one point, I got so bored that I drew a picture of Stewie from Family Guy. I made him look like Stewart Rhodes; putting an eyepatch and a black cowboy hat on him, with a rifle in hand and a caption that said “I don’t like change!” I was laughing so hard at it, that I think I turned purple. I was CRYING, trying not to laugh openly in court. I passed it to Meggs and he “choke-laughed”, hiding his face as he shook with secret laughter. He passed it to Harrelson, and he instantly “choke-laughed”, hiding his face as he shook with secret laughter. He handed it to his Attorney, Brad Guyer, and he instantly “choke-laughed” and passed it back to me. I saw the Marshals looking at me crazy, so I said f*** it. I autographed it for them and passed the picture back to the Marshals. There was lots of coughing from the back row behind me. It was hysterical (:P) The trial was sooooooo boring. It was all bulls***. Everything the Government showed was irrelevant to January 6th, and the trial had been dragging on for WEEKS at this point. The Jury kept literally falling asleep (for real). Finally, the Government decided that nothing was working. They played the Heavy Metal video again *heavy eye roll* and then they got to the point. It was time for them to focus on January 6th itself.